Bucs Draft: When character comes into play, assessing risk is painstaking 
Jameis Winston’s off-the-field woes are well documented, and they are a factor in the Bucs decision whether to take him as the No. 1 pick in this month's draft. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE By Roy Cummings | Tribune Staff Published: April 5, 2015 TAMPA — It was all right there in their scouting reports. At least, that’s what the Cleveland Browns thought when they decided to use the 22nd pick in the 2014 NFL draft on quarterback Johnny Manziel.It was only later that the Browns realized the reports warning that Manziel might have a penchant for partying a bit too much vastly underrated the prospect’s true zeal for the night life.Now, the Browns are without Manziel, who volunteered to check himself into a rehab clinic in February and is still there, and in the eyes of some, without a quarterback. Because the Browns chose to gamble against the character concerns in their scouting reports, they’ve been left to tell this cautionary tale:“No matter who it is, but especially at the quarterback position,” Cleveland head coach Mike Pettine said, “you have to be sure of what it is you’re getting in a guy in terms of his character.”“You can’t be deathly afraid to take a guy because he might have some (character flaws), because then you’re not getting value for your picks. But you really have to assess the risk and be sure it’s what you want to do.”Assessing that risk is precisely what the Buccaneers have spent the better part of this offseason doing. With the first overall pick in the 2015 draft and a glaring need at quarterback, they’re weighing the risk-reward ratio much like the Browns did a year ago.The player many scouts deem to be the best in the draft class is a potential game-changing quarterback who, like Manziel, comes draped in red cautionary character flags. The difference is, former Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston’s penchant has been for finding the kind of off-field trouble that can land you in jail instead of a rehab clinic.Since his arrival on the FSU campus in 2012, Winston has been accused of sexual assault — though he was not charged — cited for shoplifting and suspended for shouting obscenities in public on campus. It’s enough to give even the most forgiving of coaches and general managers cause for concern, because the player in question is all but destined to become the face of the franchise.“Regardless of who the player is, that’s where you start your evaluation — with the character test,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. “If he passes that, then you ask, ‘OK, what kind of player is he?’ ”So far, Winston appears to have passed the Bucs’ character test. Though their evaluation is ongoing, coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jason Licht have said on more than one occasion the past two months they would be comfortable making Winston the face of the franchise. Even Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer, who met Winston last month at One Buc Place, seems comfortable with that notion.But the Browns said they were comfortable making Manziel the face of their franchise, too, and the move backfired. So, can teams ever really be sure about players with checkered pasts?“The thing you’re trying to do in this process is (get) as much information as possible, but you can only get information from the people that are willing to share it with you,” Browns general manager Ray Farmer said.“So, one of the things we’re doing is trying to make sure we create better relationships and bonds with the people that we’re talking to. That’s one of the changes we’ve made. Our hope is that by adding experience to our scouting staff — guys that have existing, long-standing relationships with people — we’ll get a better take as to what we’re getting in terms of the quality of information.”The Bucs have taken “unique” steps in their approach to getting quality information about Winston, Licht said. Though he would not go into specifics, Licht did lay out the team’s ultimate objective.“The bottom line with all players that have some concerns is that you have to figure out whether the guy’s a bad person or just an immature person,” Licht said. “There’s a big difference.”There is also a difference between a player’s personal character and what teams refer to as his football character. Especially in the case of quarterbacks, both have to be gauged accurately.“One of the things a lot of fans don’t realize about the character evaluations is how much of an emphasis teams put on the football character part, or what we call football temperament,” said Bill Polian, a former executive with the Bills and Colts who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year. “And to find that out, you have to answer four really important questions.“The first is, how important is football to this guy? Is it the most important thing after family and faith? The second is, does he have a great work ethic? Because you have to have a great work ethic to play in the National Football League. The third is, is he a good teammate, is he a guy who fits into the framework of the team and puts the team first? And the fourth is, is he a good citizen? If the answer to all of those questions is yes, you shouldn’t have a problem with the guy.”The Browns didn’t think they had a problem with Manziel. Then they realized they did. It’s a regrettable mistake, but the Browns say they don’t regret the chance they took.“We had the same information on Johnny that everybody else in the league had,” Pettine said. “And it’s easy to look back now and say, ‘Well, what did you miss?’ It’s easy to go back and interpret something differently now that it turns out to be a deeper-rooted thing than you thought. But, obviously, we felt very comfortable with his background, certainly we felt comfortable enough to draft him.“It’s rare that you’re going to have somebody that has impeccable, clean character. And you can’t just say we’re only going to add players who are in the National Honor Society or the school choir. It’s all a matter of risk-reward and you’ve got to weigh it. That’s why you do the interviews and do your homework, because you can’t just say we’re not going to draft anybody that has any type of red flag.” [email protected](813) 259-7979Twitter: @RCummingsTBO
